Friday, February 18, 2005

In a previous post (Who's Your Daddy?), I wrote about Tennessee state Senator John Ford (D-Memphis). Ford holds down two residences, 6 children from three women, lives outside the district he is supposed to represent, and tried changing a state law to help his child support battles. Ford listed his residence as 12 South Parkway in West Memphis, which is a family-owned funeral home.

A state ethics committee now will also look into a report that Ford accepted $237,000 over two years from a "business partnership" with OmniCare Health Plan, a company with ties to the failed socialized healthcare program, TennCare. State law requires disclosure of private income in excess of $1,000 Ford broke the rule by 23,600%. At the same time, the Registry of Election Finance is looking into allegations that Ford spent campaign money on personal expenses, Ford ran unopposed in 2002. He is up for reelection in 2006; the charges could result in his removal from the Senate and possible jail time. Records show that Ford dipped into campaign funds and paid $18,400 to his girlfriend for "professional services", $2,450 to his ex-wife, $400 to a North Carolina woman who Ford pays child support, and $11,000 to a woman who got into a fight with Ford's wife. Not to leave anyone out, Ford also made payments from his campaign coffers to his daughters, one got payments in 2003 when she was married. For the wedding, Ford paid $9,000 for the reception. He also paid $1,500 for "Awesome Wedding Videos", but on the campaign report the word "wedding" was later removed.

When reached for comment by a Memphis reporter, Ford replied: "I don't need, nor do I want to talk to you or anybody else. I'm telling you! Warning you! I have no comment! So you don't have to call. If you do, I'm going to call the police and have you arrested for harassment!" Ironic coming from a man who may soon be arrested himself.(Source - Tennessean)